Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The "Beg, Borrow, and Bastard Tour" was over. Here are some extra bits, thoughts, and a look to the future of Touring Tuesdays on Guitar Ted Productions.

I suppose looking back on the tour, I can see that it was a watershed, a paradigm shift in my cycling life. I had laid down a few centuries, ridden in some awful weather, and survived some tough days in the saddle. I learned how to draft, how to conserve energy, and I began to unravel many of the nuances of riding that I had no idea about before the trip. From a cycling standpoint the trip was a huge success. The social/friendship part was different. Even though we were all on good terms in the end, we all would never again share friendship as a trio. Funny how things work out.

I had a total mileage at one time for this trip, but I lost it. I think it was a little over 600 miles in seven days. We didn't have any mechanicals, and if we had, I brought enough tools and extra parts to build another bike, practically. That is one thing I decided to cut back on for any future tours.

If I ever heard Steve Miller's "Abra-Cadabra" again after that tour, it would be too soon! I think it played on Steve's bike radio every fifteen minutes!

The experience was a great one and even though we didn't get to Canada, it didn't really seem to matter to me. It was a fantastic adventure that I will never forget. I never regretted making that decision to go after we got back home, even though there were several times on the tour that I thought I might have made a big mistake by committing to come.

So, from here where do we go? Well, there will be another big tour detailed out for you. It was undertaken a year after the "Beg, Borrow, and Bastard Tour" ended. However, there were some really big changes in my life that bear mentioning that play into this tour that I will touch on in an "Interim Post" coming next week.